Author Archives: bernardporter2013

This may seem insensitive or even cruel to those who are suffering grievously from the virus and its social effects – lockdowns, social distancing, ‘bubbles’ – but I have to say that I’m rather enjoying it all. On the ‘social … Continue reading →

You’ll have seen this before. But it’s my favourite. Thank God for our eccentric aristos!!

Everyone seems to be saying that Boris Johnson is doing a shocking job, and predicting that nearly all of us in Britain will lose as a result of Brexit. All I’m reading on the internet is ridicule of ‘BoJo’ and … Continue reading →

Stockholm hasn’t seen the sun for a month – even during the short hours of so-called ‘daylight’. It’s grey, wet and muddy outside, worse even than an English winter, especially here in the sticks. But when the snow comes it … Continue reading →

A repost from 2 years ago. It still resonates.

We’re getting through The Crown, one (old) episode an evening. Last night’s was the one about the Profumo scandal: its inclusion justified, no doubt, by Prince Philip’s association with Stephen Ward. (Otherwise what did it have to do with ‘The Crown’?) … Continue reading →

Fine piece by Zoe Williams in today’s Guardian. Here’s the peroration. ‘I didn’t realise how patriotic I was until after the referendum: I knew I cared about my compatriots, and therefore jobs, freedom of movement, food prices. But I didn’t … Continue reading →

Historians, if they are wise, don’t make predictions because they know how unpredictable the past has often been. Despite this I’m going to make one now, and a very vulnerable one, because it could be disproved in the next day … Continue reading →

We’re catching up with The Crown, via (I think) Netflix. I’d avoided it up till now, because I have virtually no interest in the British Royal Family, or in any royalty at all after Olaf I of Norway (see https://bernardjporter.com/2020/10/13/kung-olaf/), and am bored … Continue reading →

It is  beginning to look a bit like the ‘End of Days’, isn’t it? – if not for humanity generally – though you never know: Covid-19 might turn out to be the agent of the next ‘Great Extinction’ – then for the … Continue reading →